Further to my article on the need for BJP to take it message to the farmers through BJP’s organisational mechanism than just the government mechanism, it was great to see BJP’s national executive meet in Bengaluru decided to take the disinformation campaign head-on and mobilise its cadre to spread right message. (I am in no way suggesting that BJP people read or took note of my article)

“All party members would be going out to explain the public on the contents of the land bill. The intention of the government is to help farmers,” Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporter.

There is need to articulate this campaign by addressing three key areas :

You can not ally the fears, but can only create hope : One of the important things in communication is that the more you talk about ‘removing the fear’ more it gets reinforced. Only way you can overcome the fear is by offering something positive. I think it would be important to talk about what the farmers would be getting than by what they would be losing. It would be important to talk about not just the one time compensation, but more importantly, how they and their next generation would be taken care of ( though I have not read all the provisions of the bill and farmers compensation, I am sure there must be enough financial compensation – such as insurance policies, re-employability, etc that need to highlighted ). The fear in farmer’s mind is questions about honourable livelihood for next generation and about the status in the society without a land ownership. These needs to be addressed through the provisions of the act. Give them a hope of better life without taking away the status.

Set a positive example as early as possible : Nothing succeeds like success. A successful example of a large project coming up on a land acquired by the government. And the project that would have all the elements such as non irrigation land being acquired, farmers getting much more than market valuation, farmers getting honourable livelihood and next generation is assured of good lifestyle, would change the whole atmosphere. It would take away opposition’s claims and it would also restore confidence in farmers and in people of India in general.